Officer Army Housing

Being a member of the West Point family

Hear Cadet Gabra Perez explain the academic and leadership training she received at West Point Military Academy.

Hello my name is Gabrielle Perez. I’m a cadet at the United States Military Academy and I’m a senior this year. I decided to go West Point because my cousin graduated from West Point and one of my great uncles did and both of my parents are also Marines in the military so I’ve always been a part of the military lifestyle. At West Point the majority of the year I do academic work but in the summertime we do military training. This summer I did Cadet Leadership Development Training where I’m out in the field. I did offense/defensive training and move into contact. Which is kind of like you’re living out in the woods for 12 days and running around getting away from people who are shooting at you. It was an interesting experience.
I decided to go to West Point not just because of my family but because I read a book about it and I liked the fact that you have to be physically fit and you’re serving your country and it’s just, I’ve had a great experience there – I was able to go a semester abroad to China. You meet really good friends there due to the experience you have with them in the field an during the academic year.
At West Point there’s a saying that you have to cooperate to graduate because there is something that you’re not going to be doing well at the school, but there are subjects that you will do well in. It’s a family there and when you graduate you join an even larger family.